


No More Than Reason

by Scarleystars



Category: Inception (2010), Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare, SHAKESPEARE William - Works
Genre: M/M, i am an awful shakespeare butcherer, i cant help it that globe on tour's much ado just screamed arthur/eames okay, i should be stopped before it gives me more ideas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-15
Updated: 2014-07-15
Packaged: 2018-02-08 22:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1958361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarleystars/pseuds/Scarleystars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Benedick Eames and Arthur Beatrice (it’s pronounced <i>berr-treese</i>) stopped bickering and realised they were in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No More Than Reason

**Author's Note:**

> Ta muchly to Xander of [The Beta Service](http://thebetaservice.tumblr.com) for flailing over my inner Eames and the gem of a comment that was >>tactical infatuation engaged

“I have gathered you,” Saito began imperiously, “to right a wrong within the team. A wrong that cannot be borne any longer. This must be rectified before it can spiral deeper and-“

Cobb tentatively raised a hand. “Why am I here? I’m retired.”

Saito waved his hand to say that it wasn’t important by his standards. “James’ medical bills for the measles were costly, yes? I will pay them and in return you will do this for me as a favour.” Cobb tried to splutter his protests but Saito bulldozed over them, drowning out Cobb’s whining about how he no longer worked in dreamshare and how nothing in the world would entice him back not ever  Saito’s blackmail-by-children, by raising his voice: “-A WRONG THAT IS SO PLAIN TO SEE, YET COMPLICATED TO UNRAVEL.”

This time, it was Yusuf’s hand that shot up. “If it’s about the team, why aren’t Arthur and Eames here?” Saito’s eyes gleamed as he looked from Cobb to Ariadne to Yusuf, all sat around the boardroom table in his summer home.

“The wrong I speak of concerns them, for it is the denial of Mr Eames and Mr Arthur’s epic love story.” Cobb was stunned into silence, Yusuf fell into gutsy laughter, but Ariadne leaned in closer.

“Saito,” she asked excitedly, “are you a _shipper_?”

“I do believe that love is bigger than all other consequences,” the man in question answered, primly. “And that Arthur and Eames have this untapped romance not one of you can deny.”

“I’ll do it,” Cobb said, suddenly. “You wanted me on the job? I’ll take it.”

“Yes,” replied Saito. “I knew you’d see sense.”

“So, how are we going to lure them together?” asked Ariadne. “Eames is a confirmed bachelor, and Arthur complains about him all the time.”

“Leave that to me,” said Cobb. “I have the beginnings of a plan. We wait for them to be in hearing distance and loudly talk about how the other one is madly in love with them but won’t let it show for fear of rejection. We make it convincing and like we’re not being overheard, and then we let them do the rest.”

“We’ll need a way to bring them to us for an extended time without it seeming contrived,” Yusuf thought out loud. “A job offer,” Saito mused. “I might have just the thing.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Arthur. Cobb here. Look, Saito called and, well, persuaded me to do one last job. Low risk, high figure payout, innocuous pretence actually: he wants us to conduct a scenario in the head of his business associate who’s getting cold feet about his impending marriage. Our goal is to make sure he marries the woman and stays with her. I’d really like you on this one, it’ll be my last hurrah, you know? Then I can go back to my kids with enough money to buy them those bikes they wanted and dreamshare will be fully out of my system. Call me when you get this.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey Eames! Ariadne here, Saito’s getting the Fischer team all back together to do this small job for him that you’ll totally be interested in. I volunteered to call you into the fold. Get this: he wants us to play cupid and get his friend to fall irrevocably in love with said friend’s fiancé. Apparently, the dude’s thinking about backing out of the marriage but Saito knows the girl really well and thinks her heart would be broken forever more, right? Totally sad. So we’re gonna go in and make sure that doesn’t happen. The money’s even better than last time. Plus, I know you and your psychology background are gonna be already sorting out the logistics of this, so call me back to tell me you’re interested.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eames was looking forward to this job: complicated enough to be a challenge ~~,~~ but unlikely to get them all shot at if it went tits up. Also, the whole thing was being financed by Saito and combined the genius of Yusuf, Ariadne, and the newly un-deranged Dominic Cobb (plus his glorious self of course). It would be one of the most competent teams he’d ever had the pleasure of working with. Only, this time, without all the risks of their last job. There was only one suit-shaped snag to the whole thing. Really it was to be expected, Cobb hardly worked with any other point man and Arthur was undoubtedly the best in his field but still: sometimes he wanted to punch the smug motherfucker in the face, team morale be damned. Instead, he got his revenge in small and petty ways.  
Eames could read people particularly well, it was one of the reasons he was such a good forger. So, it was with great pleasure that he watched the esteemed point man flinch whenever he called him by some new pet name or strolled in wearing another charity shop purchase in the form of a paisley shirt. Honestly, the man should hide his tells better. If it weren’t so amusing, Eames would pity the man for being such a boring open book.

One thing he _would_ say for the man known as simply “Arthur”, was that other than his absolutely _gorgeous_ taste in clothing (that accentuated all this _best_ features, if you know what I mean, eh?). He worked harder than the rest of dreamshare combined to get the freshest intel and left no stone unturned. There had been slip ups, of course, such as the Fischer job, but with a record like that, a few blemishes were not about to render the point man obsolete.

So, when Eames strolled into the team’s Tokyo fifth floor open plan office (Saito’s financing stretching as far as catered lunches and a private apartment. He really was worth humouring and buttering up), and found, not a thin, suit-wearing Arthur already hard at work, but a muttering Cobb and complicit Ariadne instead, he knew something was up. Ariadne had confessed after inception, that she had been aware of Cobb’s shit before they’d gone under, and whilst he supposed it was slightly excusable considering she had been new at the time, and in the end it had all worked out. That didn’t mean he was about to trust her to tell the team if Cobb was acting up again though. Thus, he was resolved to shamelessly eavesdrop to whatever conversation they were deeply involved in.

Hiding himself behind the water cooler, he was near enough to hear even the faintest of Cobb’s murmurings, and yet, -and wherein lies the genius- the cooler’s shape would refract the light, showing not what was directly behind it and render him invisible. Once or twice, he thought he saw Ariadne’s eyes sweep over his hiding place and was quick to duck even further down and mask his breathing, but he was never seen.

Their conversation turned out to be very interesting indeed. “But are you _sure_?” Ariadne was almost hissing.

“What do you _mean_ am I _sure_? Do you think I don’t know all of Arthur’s secrets? He’s _my_ point man. We know each other inside out,” Cobb replied, “and besides. _He told me himself_.”

Ariadne’s eyes were as round as pennies. “He _told_ you –he _outright said_ to you that _he’s head over heels in love with Eames._ ”

At that moment Eames almost lost his balance due to the shock of it but the conversation kept going and he couldn’t back out now. Eames would have to stay hidden until they stopped and then back away and slam the door, pretending he’d only just got there that second and Did Not Know That Arthur Was In Love With Him. This was no joke. Cobb had no sense of humour. It had to be _true_.

Cobb was nodding solemnly. “He came over to help me with James’ birthday party and, late that night, after too much wine, he broke down and confessed to me that he’s desperately in love with Eames. He wanted to apologise for not discovering Fischer’s militarisation. He said –and I quote- that he’d “been too busy making sure he had every last detail for Eames’s position in Fischer-Morrow,” because he worried that, if he didn’t, Eames would have been discovered and the forger would have to drop out of the job. He hates being around Eames, it’s too painful to have him so close and yet so far, you know? But at the same time, it’s better to have him around than pining for him from afar. That’s how he always knows where he is. He’s obsessed.”

Well. Eames was stunned. Really. He _knew_ Arthur was too good to have missed something as drastic as a mark’s militarisation without other circumstances influencing him, he just hadn’t known those circumstances were HIM. And the point man always knew where he was, it was true, even when Eames didn’t want to be found. It was a little scary actually. In the past, he’d gone as far as ripping up all his clothes to check for hidden bugs or trackers. Naturally he found nothing and had to buy a whole new set of clothes. How the man tracks him is still a mystery. 

Ariadne looked delighted. “But if he loves him, why does he brush off all of Eames’s flirting?” Cobb waved his hand. “Oh, he hates the idea of Eames finding out. He thinks the forger would use it to tease him forever. Really, he has a point. Eames has a habit of ferreting out a person’s flaws and holding them over the person’s head. Imagine what he’d do with unrequited love! Poor Arthur deserves better.”

_Okay_. Frowned the forger in question, _that’s a bit of a harsh character assassination. I’m not that bad…. Am I? Surely not._

"It’s true.” Ariadne nodded. “I mean, Eames is a wonderful person; riotously funny, and awfully clever,” Eames preened, even though he knew that sentence would end with a ‘but’. “But he does take a bit too much glee in disassembling a person and then reeling it all off in their face. I was talking to Najeem –the extractor? - the other week, and she told me that he might be the best forger in the business, but she’d rather extend her jobs an extra two weeks than work with him again. I heard there’s a fair few people who won’t take him on after the first time. He’s like some fashion-impaired Sherlock Holmes. If you need the best, you call on him, but only if there’s no other option.”

“Exactly,” agreed Cobb, the traitor. “So you can see why Arthur hasn’t made his feelings known. Any _hint_ that Eames knows, he said he’d stop taking jobs with him rather than face the mocking. He said me might possibly go as far as dropping out of dreamshare all together! And that’d just be awful. I don’t know how to work with other point men any more…”

“But I thought you were retired! I mean, current job notwithstanding.”

“Well.” Cobb shifted with a touch of guilt. “Yes... I am. But, once the kids are settled, I might return.”

“Oh, I see how it is!” Ariadne laughed. “Retirement not giving you enough excitement, yeah?”

Cobb mumbled an agreement and, with that, the conversation shifted, so Eames slunk back towards out into the corridor to ponder his newfound wealth of information. Arthur loved him. All the sarcastic rebuttals were just the marks of a lovesick man trying to make the most of it and not let anything show. He would quit if he thought Eames knew and (although Eames was still of the opinion that the gossiping pair had got himself entirely wrong) it was apparently general consensus that the forger would laugh in the face of the point man’s feelings and make him feel like shit.

Well _obviously_ Eames was going to requite that love. It made sense, innit? Arthur was the only one who met him quip for quip; he was clever, VERY good looking, a dream with a weapon, and the best at his job. It wouldn’t do for Eames to lose that sort of person at his side just because of something as silly as _not loving them back_. He felt giddy. _Arthur_ loved _him!_ Not even watching Inception take root was as heady as that. Cool, impressive, _talented_ Arthur had made the mistake of falling in love with him -and was currently heading out of the elevator towards the door Eames was standing against with a sheepish Yusuf trailing behind him.

_Time for a dignified retreat_ , thought Eames. He didn’t _have_ to arrive until tomorrow. Not really. Eames ran for the stairwell. He’d sort out his emotions and return with a full plan of action. Tomorrow would see a newer, better Eames, an Eames that would smoothly let Arthur know his feelings were returned without being embarrassing or too obvious.

 

* * *

 

 

Something was wrong. Arthur could sense it. Like when you came home from a trip abroad and found that someone had moved all your things two inches to the left. You knew something was not right, but what the hell that thing was, eluded your grasp. For Arthur, the issue was with his team. Ariadne and Yusuf kept whispering together, Cobb was looking like the cat that ate the canary, and Eames was _staring_. Now that he thought about it, Eames had been weird since the job started: less… caustic with his wit. Arthur wasn’t used to it and it was disconcerting. He brushed it off and concentrated on researching the mark’s financial history. Everything would make sense eventually.

 

* * *

 

 

“DARLING!” Eames shouted across the room in frustration. Arthur looked up to see the Forger pulling at his hair whilst staring at his computer and glaring. Eames was not known for his computer literacy, and Arthur gravitated over to see what the problem was just to save $500 of technology from being hurled out of the nearest window. “I need to print out this stupid fucking form so I can read them whilst on stakeout tomorrow and the blasted printer isn’t doing a thing! I’ve tried about five times now and it’s sat there smirking at me, laughing at my anger.”

Drama, Eames _was_ known for, so Arthur just rolled his eyes and shouldered the British man out of the way whilst trying to ascertain the root of the problem. Clicking open the printer queue, there was an alarming amount of documents waiting. His first port of call was deleting the thirty duplicates that were proof of Eames’s tenacity. Then he did the classic, turning it off and on again trick, and when that yielded no new results, he went back to the queue and looked deeper at the settings –ah. He thought in satisfaction –

“What? I know that lovely face, you make it when you don’t want to show that you’re smug about something. Have you discovered the source of all my woes?” Eames was always quick to notice minute shifts in a person’s emotions, although he usually used it to rile up Arthur. So instead of replying, Arthur just deleted the first document –the one causing all the problems- and queued up a replacement, hitting ‘print’ with a flourish (that he’d deny if anyone called him on it). After a pause, the printer spluttered to life, spitting out Eames’ documents. “Amazing. I spend fifteen minutes getting angrier and angrier at this thing, and you come sort it in under a minute!” it was the odd sort of wonder in Eames’s voice that threw him off. Usually he’d be sent on his merry way with nary a thanks or they’d have a witty exchange. Instead, he had this.

“Yes. Well...” he replied, slightly confused. “Sometimes with these you just have to think like a printer. The initial document was-“

“-think like a printer?” Eames repeated before bursting into what the point man could only describe as _giggles_. “Oh, Arthur darling, never let anyone tell you that you have no imagination.”

Arthur had no idea what was going on. “Eames. YOU are the only one who ever tells me that.”

“Well, it’s common knowledge that I’m plonker,” the forger replied still smiling widely. Arthur retreated before any other weirdness could occur.

 

* * *

 

 

Ariadne was slowly revolutionising every corner of dreamshare she touched. She’d begun demanding at least an hour of group recreational dreaming per team she worked with. The way she reasoned it was, it would be an hour of team bonding without revealing secrets, but would also be long enough for any pressing neuroses to make themselves known. She refused to work with another clusterfuck like Dom prior to getting his kids back. Soon, group dreaming was catching on in all dreamshare teams, as neuroses were rather common in the business (sometimes long before the person developed any conscious symptoms), and were responsible for more than a few situations that quickly became Fucked Up Beyond Repair.

Arthur didn’t hate the bonding sessions exactly, except he sort of did. It meant he had to do things like endless trust falls in the presence of people like Eames, who took absolutely nothing seriously. If Arthur had to listen to one more joke about, “watch out pet, I’m about to _fall_ for you.” Arthur was either going to break a tooth from all the clenching he’d done with his jaw, or go over there and shoot the forger out of the dream. He’d ‘lighten up a little’ when the forger was not around to tease him for it, thank you very much.

They were in Yusuf’s dream this time, with Ariadne building. Everyone had gone over the layout beforehand and were supposed to be meeting at the fountain at the heart of the city. So when Saito and Yusuf didn’t arrive ten dream-minutes after they were supposed to, Arthur went to go find them.

They weren’t far, just a few streets away, conversing in the middle of the road, of all places. Both had their back turned to him but, just as the point man was about to get their attention, a snatch of their conversation blew towards him on the breeze.

“If Eames is as serious as you say, then the situation is perilous,” Saito was saying. “It has been documented that forgers when confronted with this sort of thing can get reckless, and end up either deliriously happy, or running the risk of losing their talent completely”

Arthur couldn’t hail them now, not when he might find out just why Eames had been acting so strange lately. He’d heard of burnt out forgers, but the community was rather hush-hush about the phenomena’s exact cause. Too curious by half, he crept closer, sticking to the shadows until he was near enough to hear their exact discourse, but hidden in a shop doorway so he wouldn’t be discovered.

“I’d like to see him happy,” sighed Yusuf, “but that’s not really that likely is it? I mean, it’s _Arthur_.”

_What? What has this got to do with me?_ The man in question thought wildly.

Saito sighed heavily. “No. I’d advise you to tell him to walk away whilst he still has his wits-”

“-oh, it’s too late for that, he swung by my lab on his way here and we tried my newest homebrew, and well… You should have heard him. Crying, moaning, and even said he’d forge Arthur’s dream fantasy, if that would make Arthur would love him back…”

“WHAT?” shrieked Arthur, before remembering he was hiding and then shrinking back into the lintel of the doorway. _I **am** the door. I am not a person. Don’t look over here, it’s just a doorway not a person, just a door-_

“….did you hear something?” Saito asked,

“No… must have been the wind.” Yusuf replied. “So. What are we going to do? Should I tell him to confess to Arthur and get it over with? His heart will break, but it might not take his skills with it _just_ yet… Or tell him to carry on as he is. It takes all his willpower to keep up the pretence daily, to act the carefree man who isn’t sick with love over Arthur, it’s all he can do to let it out in small ways -acting like a dick and pouring out insults and ironic pet names, when he wants to pour out his heart and speaks pet names with sincerity.”

_Of course,_ thought Arthur, _it’s all just elaborate pigtail pulling, why did I not see that before? How have I been so blind? Eames…. Loves me!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!111_

“I’d rather he suffered a bit but kept his gift…” Yusuf continued, “his heart will heal eventually, but forging? Once that’s gone….. Is there really no chance Arthur might reciprocate some day?”

“I fear not. I have done some research into the matter, the last colleague to confess feelings to our Point Man was coldly rejected and had to leave the team that very day.”

_Okay no, it wasn’t quite like that!_ A bright red blushing Arthur thought to himself _–I’d never be that cruel! I’m not-_

“Heartless...” Yusuf shook his head sadly. “Poor Eames, he has no hope then. I’ll tell him to carry on hiding his emotions. Arthur is too cold and prickly to ever return his affections.”

Arthur slunk away at that. It was clear he couldn’t go back and do trust falls now. Not with the wealth of information now at this fingertips. He needed to regroup and think strategy. Eames loves him. Fact. Eames is in danger of not being able to forge ever again if Arthur rejects him. Not so much ‘fact’ as ‘strongly suggested truth’. Arthur thinks Eames' forges are the most wonderful thing out there. Fact. Thus, Arthur must not reject Eames’ advances. Arthur must encourage them.

_Well,_ he thought as he conjured up a gun to kick himself out of the dream _. It certainly won’t be the hardest task I’ve ever undertaken. Now I know all the annoying traits are pigtail pulling, I’d say falling in love with him back might be fairly easy!_

 

* * *

 

 

“Where did Arthur go? He left to go find you half an hour ago!” exclaimed Eames. The rest of the team exchanged a quick and silent nod, conveying that their plan had been successful.

“No idea, we never saw him, maybe he got lost?” replied Yusuf.

“Well we can’t team build without _all_ the team!” Ariadne shouted in fake anger, trying to hide her satisfaction at the thought that their _real job_ might soon be complete. Being Saito’s erotes required almost too much subterfuge in her opinion but, at the same time, the opportunity had been too good to pass up.

When they kicked their way back up to reality, Arthur was nowhere to be seen, with only a small post it note stuck to Dom’s forehead testifying the point man had ever been there in the first place. Eames quickly snatched it up, wanting to know where Darling Arthur had gone. "-what the… is this some kind of code?!” he rounded on Dom “this is gibberish! Numbers, letters all mixed together!”

Ariadne looked over his arm. “I’m guessing you never learnt Leet speak then?”

“The FUCK is that?” Eames was perplexed.

“It’s an internet dialect. All vowels are replaced with similar looking numbers. So E becomes 3, O, 0, and so on.” Dom explained and took the post it out of Eames’ hands. “Arthur’s note says one of his informants called, and that he’ll be back with coffee in an hour.”

Eames spoke eight languages and knew how to curse in another four, but languages that combined numbers and letters? That was far beyond him. “Well, why didn’t he just say so?”

The rest of the team laughed.

When Arthur returned, (and Eames would go to his grave denying that he had fretted that whole hour) it was with a sheaf of papers and just two takeaway cups, one of which he gracelessly thrust towards Eames. ‘..Err, thank you?” He looked around to see if Arthur had already given everyone else their drinks already, only to find there were no more cups go be seen. Arthur had promised to get everyone drinks, and he’d come back with only enough coffee for two, and yet, the rest of the team didn’t seem to mind that Stalwart Arthur had not delivered.

Arthur mumbled a ‘no problem’ and then stayed there, seemingly waiting for Eames to take a sip. Bemused, the forger did just that, to discover the drink in his hand was not coffee at all, but an excellently brewed Assam. “Thank you, pet. That was really kind of you.” He was trying the whole ‘cut back on the insults and appreciate his work to show you care’ thing. So far it wasn’t having much of an effect. But time would tell. Satisfied that Eames liked his offering, Arthur strode away to catch up on an hour’s worth of work.

Eames remained there, still slightly confused as to what had just happened.

 

* * *

 

 

Eames had a problem. He’d never really given the whole wooing thing much thought in the past. He’d gained the reputation as something of a pansexual Lothario, and that usually did all the hard work for him. But now that he was _serious_ , now that he wanted to have _more_ than a quick shag in a hotel room, he had utterly no clue where to start. Sucking up his pride, he’d purchased a book. It was one of those “how to win your man in a week” type things, and he’d made annotations to fit in with Arthur’s personality.  
So far the advice it gave boiled down to: smile often, compliment them sincerely, listen to the thing they’re passionate about, make and sustain eye contact and don’t be a dick. He had the smiling thing down, and he was already working on curbing his dickish behaviour, but the rest? It was turning out to be a shambles. He made eye contact? It was turned into a staring contest. Compliments NEVER sounded sincere, and trying to phrase them in different ways continued to highlight how well he was failing at the ‘don’t be a dick’ part, and apparently Arthur didn’t talk about his passions at work. He thought about throwing the book in the bin, but, it HAD won him some absolutely gorgeous smiles –with _dimples_ no less!- which he’d drawn with meticulous attention over and over in his sketchbook. He’d been drawing a lot of the point man recently; his smiles, his wrists, his concentrated little frown, his pert arse….. well, you get the picture.

He didn’t throw out the book. In the end, he had hope it might win him Arthur yet.

 

* * *

 

 

“I think we might have a problem,” began Dom in his clandestine meeting with Yusuf about the progress of the soon-to-be-lover’s affection for one another. “They’re hopeless at this sort of thing as far as I can tell. Eames keeps saying absolutely the wrong thing and Arthur goes Cro-Magnon on him and just brings him things _, all the time,_ and never says a word! I don’t know who is worse!”

“Yeah but,” began Yusuf, “the way they were at the planning session? No two people could have been more in sync! Although it was more than a little shocking to see Arthur _support_ all of Eames’ suggestions instead of looking for flaws right off the bat. And the way they blushed at each other!” Yusuf clapped his hands together, betraying his inner romantic to the older man. “We’re on the right track. I’m sure of it. Arthur wants to show he can anticipate Eames' every want and need, and Eames? He’s never actually had a real relationship as far as I can tell... he’s getting advice from a self-help book, but it’s gaining him more success every day.”

Dom was dubious, but prepared to be convinced. “Well, the job’s in two days’ time. If we can both find something that serves as absolute proof they adore one another, we can use it as leverage if they don’t get it on by the time it’s finished.”

It would be hard task, but one Yusuf would gladly obey.

 

* * *

 

 

Arthur was compiling a list. He refused to show the absolute affection waiting to burst out of him whilst they were on a job, after all he was not going to be anything less than professional just because he’d decided he was going to love his co-worker. So instead, he told the forger he was happy with his work more often, and made the list; it was a list of everything Eames could possibly want at any given time during the job, and also doubled up as a list of all the qualities that he admired in Eames. It was a long list. Whilst he’d always thought (in private and never out loud) that the forger was an exemplar of his class, witty and ridiculously clever. The way he usually let people underestimate his intelligence unless he really trusted them, gave Arthur a warm sort of feeling in his lower intestine and whilst the man’s fashion sense was CLEARLY lacking, the body beneath it could have been chiselled out of stone the amount Arthur idolised it.  
He usually got so angry when he thought of how Eames hid his physique by wearing ill-fitting shirts that made him look bulkier than he already was, and awful polyester trousers. His assets were utterly wasted. It was a crying shame because, _that ass_. He’d seen it once on a job a few years back; communal showers had been a god-sent thing and, if he could write poetry with any degree of emotion, he’d have written it odes and sonnets. He tried again that very afternoon. His rhymes were still the worst thing ever. He’d intended to shred the evidence the moment he finished and realised what horror he had created, but Ariadne called him over to look at her designs, and he… forgot.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, just to go over the plan one last time,-“

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, do we have to go through it agai-“

“Shut up Eames.”

“ _AS I WAS SAYING_. We nab Mr Takashi at the spa Saito has graciously provided him a reservation for. After the masseuse has made pointed comments about his impending marriage, we plug him in. The first level Ariadne and Arthur will subdue Takashi’s projection of his fiancé whilst Eames and I conduct a farce where I convince Takashi in the presence of Saito that Yuki is cheating on him and convince him to not go through with the marriage which will ‘kill’ the girl out of shame. Then, on the second level, we reveal that it was all a scam and that it was not, in fact, Yuki that he saw but a paid actress, and he will feel remorse for the woman he has killed with his scorn and consent to marry whomever Yuki’s father -played by Saito- pleases, the choice being the revealed Yuki herself. This will force his subconscious to see Yuki as a prize and precious thing that he should never belie, and all will be well.”

“We _know_ , Dom. Now, Yusuf, whilst this is all going on, where will you be?”

“Sitting in the spa, keeping watch over your dreaming bodies and thinking about how my ‘traitorous ways’ are the reason I don’t get to join in the fun…. -But really if I’M not allowed then Dom shouldn-“

“This is Dom’s last EVER job. He will be quitting dreamshare for good after this. WON’T YOU, DOMINIC?”

“….yes Arthur.”                    

“You’re really good at that. Teach me your ways, sempai”

“You can’t afford my rates, Ariadne.”

“Awwww, you’re no fun.”

“He has a point, pet. Arthur worked long and hard to learn how to cow almost everyone into submission with but a single glance. You can’t just impart that knowledge for anything other than a fortune, or the offer of your own island.”

“Saito would buy him for me, wouldn’t you, Saito??”

“I am sorry to say, I will not. I am already ignoring how what you are proposing could be construed as prostitution of Mr Arthur.” Arthur squawked. Eames laughed. “Plus, with Mr Arthur’s ability, Miss Ariadne, you would be a very dangerous person indeed. I dare not risk unleashing that on humanity.”

“…Don’t pout, pet, it gives you frown lines.”

“But~”

“-I believe this planning session is over now?”

“Yes. I think so. Shall I escort you out, Arthur?”

“Go where you like.”

…

“DID YOU GUYS TOTALLY SEE ARTHUR’S BLUSH?? IT WAS TOTALLY THE CUTEST-“

”Ariadne! Shut up! They’re still in the building!”

“Ahh, sorry, my bad. But that blush though! And Eames being a gentleman!”

“I am pleased to note that despite reports to the contrary, it seems Mr Arthur and Mr Eames affections are on track.”

“Wait, whose reports - Cobb?”

“But there was no romance! No flowers, or spontaneous dinners or-“

“Okay, just because they’re not having some textbook romance like you and Mal had, or whatever, doesn’t mean they’re not falling head first-“

“What?”

“Oh, my god. I’ve just had an epiphany. You totally thought that was the only way to fall in love, didn’t you? Cobb you’re an idiot.”

“Mr Cobb, I am surprised. I thought better of you.”

“But-“

“Come along Cobb, we need to expand your horizons a bit before the job tomorrow. You really can be a bit dense, can’t you?”

 

* * *

 

 

“Would it be folly to tell you I love you, Arthur?” Eames asked in a small voice as they walked back to the hotel. Arthur stood still for a second, but then shook his head.

“No. Not folly. Or at least, as much folly as it would be for me to tell you I love _you_.” The smile that lit up the forger’s face was worth all the mental anguish of having to say the words, and so Arthur permitted himself a shy smile in return.

“Honestly, Arthur if you asked me to do anything for you, I would, you know? Name it.”

Arthur tried his hardest not to be flustered and reply with due grace but, at the same time, they were just about to embark on a complicated job that wasn’t quite inception but had all the planning and complexities. “Just…. Let’s do the job as well as we can, right? We can work out everything else after….”

Eames grinned again. “As you wish, Arthur.” He kissed the point man’s cheek. “Shall I see you tomorrow morning then?” Arthur fought a blush and grinned instead.

“Absolutely, Mr Eames. Absolutely.”

 

* * *

 

 

The job was a success. A roaring success, and the team had performed a quick clean-up job and had been shanghaied into visiting Saito before they all split to give him a performance review. Eames was radiating nervous energy. He was going to talk to Arthur about everything today. Tell him exactly how much he loved the man and they would (hopefully) ride off happily into the sunset and everything. Holy fuck he was terrified. Unfortunately, a nervous Eames is a dick. Once Saito had congratulated them on a job well done, everyone had made noises to leave, he panicked when Arthur headed for the door.

“Arthur!” he shouted as the other man was reaching for the handle. Eames put on his cockiest expression. “Tell me you love me!” he realised his mistake barely a second later. Arthur was an intensely private man, and Eames had just asked him to give Eames a declaration in front of all their associates.

“What?” the point man blustered. “NO!” Eames’s heart sank. He’d been a right idiot after all, the point man didn’t actually have feelings for him after all.

“I guess Dom and Ariadne must have been mistaken,” Eames mumbled. “They swore up and down you did…”

“Well they were wrong.” Arthur dun fucked up but he was sticking to it because retracting it in front of everyone was beyond embarrassing. “Tell me _you_ love _me_. After all, Saito and Yusuf swore YOU loved me,” Arthur demanded in return.

“Yeah, right,” Eames snorted, trying to put on a carefree expression. If his feelings weren’t returned, he wasn’t going to admit to them.

The rest of the team watched on in disbelief. All their hard work gone in a second because the pair of boys were idiots.

Then Dom had a brainwave. “Come on, Eames, you know as well as I, Arthur says no when he means yes…” He rummaged around in his bag for the slips of paper Yusuf had gifted him before they joined the mark. “Here, look!” He waved two sheets of crumpled paper. Arthur looked on in horror as he realised what they were. “One list of things Arthur adores about you, and” Arthur lunged but was held back by Ariadne who bear hugged him, “an ode to your poste[rior.” He quickly handed them over to the forger to keep them out of Arthur’s straining limbs. “If that doesn’t prove Arthur’s love to you then nothing will.”

Whilst Eames read (and giggled, Arthur clearly wasn’t a poetry person, these rhymes were terrible!) Yusuf caught on to Dom’s scheme and brandished his own evidence aloft. “And here, I have proof of Eames devotion, Arthur. His sketchpad, filled with rather accurate drawings of yourself.” Eames tuned in and, after realising what was going on, tried to make a grab for it with little success. “And the book he has been consulting to help woo you properly, with annotations of things you’d appreciate.”

After both parties had relinquished their prizes, they stood and watched as Eames and Arthur both speed read the offerings in front of them, occasionally chuckling at a bad rhyme or awful wooing suggestion.

Eames broke first. “Well that proves it,” he said triumphantly. “You absolutely _do_ love me. Just as well, as I was prepared to woo you, as Dom had said you were totally heartsick for me.”

Arthur, satisfied that the Forger’s feelings were genuine, parried with, “and Yusuf said you were in such a bad way over _me_ that you were in danger of losing your skills. I was prepared to accept your advances so not to lose the best forger in the business.”

“Darling!” Eames looked delighted. “Do you really think of me as the best forger?”

Arthur rolled his eyes and marched forward. “Oh, shut up Mr Eames.” And then the pair were snogging in the middle of Saito’s Tokyo house. Yusuf had to physically drag Ariadne out as she yelled about videoing it and making millions.

 


End file.
